Seasonal foods: Stretching scallops to feed four

Friday

Nov 24, 2017 at 12:08 PMNov 24, 2017 at 12:08 PM

By Laurie Higgins

The difference a week can make. Last week, we were contemplating a very small gathering for Thanksgiving. Seven days later, a series of strange and sad events that involve a recalcitrant Amish workman and two different health crises in our extended family meant we ended up cooking for 18 adults and three toddlers.

In a rare occurrence, the Kitchen Genius had to work on turkey day, so preparing that meal fell on me. All of the guests brought something, so it wasn’t a big worry. Plus, we planned to eat later, at dinner time, to accommodate work schedules, which gave me all day to cook.

Running around in the kitchen all day was a great way to burn off all the calories I consumed.

The third week in November is also the beginning of the birthday extravaganza in our family. For various reasons, we are the go-to house for most celebrations. We always cook the birthday person’s favorite food, and most of the time that food is not waistline-friendly.

For example, our son-in-law’s birthday was last weekend. He requested steak, loaded mashed potatoes and cheesecake. KG decided to throw in some ribs as an appetizer, because why not?

That meal made Thanksgiving seem healthy by contrast. This weekend, we will celebrate KG’s birthday. He’s still deciding on his special menu.

Locally, we will also celebrate my mother’s birthday and two granddaughter’s birthdays between now and the beginning of the New Year.

In that same time period, eight other close family members will celebrate their birthdays away from us, but we will be with them in spirit (and send gifts).

It’s a lot to be thankful for, and also a bit exhausting and expensive. With that in mind, the meals in between all of those celebrations have to be simpler. We’ve taken to having soup and a sandwich or a salad at least one night a week.

Homemade soup is so comforting that we made it twice last week when KG and I were both sick with colds.

The first soup was Italian sausage, white bean and swiss chard soup. Swiss chard is the last holdout in our garden so that was an obvious choice. The very next night, KG whipped up a batch of French onion soup.

Sometimes you roll with a craving, and he had one. Other times, you go with what’s on sale. Scallops are in season now and that means they have been fairly affordable.

My parents moved to Brewster full-time a couple of weeks ago, but the combination of our recent trip to Nashville and our subsequent illnesses meant that we didn’t have them over for dinner until this past Sunday.

KG wanted to make something special, so he decided to make seared scallops with mushroom risotto. Since risotto is so filling, one pound of scallops easily fed four people.

His recipe was inspired by a package of dried porcini mushrooms he found somewhere. The only good way to use dried mushrooms is to add a deep mushroom flavor to a dish. Even after you soak them, they are just too tough to be used in most recipes.

The lemon zest in this recipe helps balance the unctuousness of the risotto and thyme is a great herb for mushroom dishes.

Somehow it is always my job to harvest the herbs we need for a given recipe. Lately that has involved a flashlight. Now I will only be foraging with a flashlight for thyme and sage – two herbs that tolerate the cold fairly well.

Most of the rest of the herbs don’t fare well in extreme weather so KG potted up some rosemary, parsley, oregano and our bay leaf tree and brought them indoors so we can have fresh herbs for the winter.

It’s the time for hunkering down, and also the time for celebrating.

SEARED SCALLOPS WITH MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Serves 4 (with leftover risotto)

1 cup dried porcini mushrooms

2 cups boiling water

3 cups chicken stock

6 tablespoons butter, divided

1 medium shallot, minced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 8-ounce package baby bella mushrooms, rough chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

3/4 cup white wine

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup fresh grated Romano cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound scallops

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

Place dried mushrooms in a large bowl and pour boiling water on them. Let them soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Strain mushrooms and discard. Pour mushroom liquid into a medium saucepan. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn burner down to simmer.

In a medium size Dutch oven, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. Add shallots and cook until softened, about two minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms render their liquid, about five minutes, stirring frequently. Add the rice and cook for two minutes, stirring frequently. Add the white wine and cook until wine is almost entirely evaporated. Add one ladle of hot broth and cook and stir until broth is almost entirely absorbed.

Continue adding broth in this manner until it is all absorbed into the rice, stirring constantly. It takes between 20 and 30 minutes for this step. When rice is the texture you desire, take it off the burner and the lemon zest and most of the Romano cheese (save some to garnish).

To sear the scallops, heat olive oil and remaining 3 tablespoons of butter a large skillet over high heat. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel and season them lightly with salt and pepper.

Add the scallops to the skillet, making sure they don’t touch each other. Cook in two batches if necessary. Sear the scallops for 2 minutes, flip them over and sear for an additional minute.

They should be golden brown, but still medium on the inside. Place risotto in individual bowls and divide scallops among them.